A total of 389 students from Citrus, Hernando, Pasco, Pinellas and Hillsborough counties applied.

A Barnes Scholarship is worth up to $60,000 over four years of study at an accredited U.S. college or university. Each year, four winners have been selected. This year, the St. Petersburg Times Fund will provide $133,300 in financial aid to college students just through the Barnes Scholarship program.

Established by the St. Petersburg Times Fund in 1999, the scholarships are named for Andrew Barnes, retired chairman and chief executive officer of the St. Petersburg Times. The Barnes Scholarships target high school seniors who have achieved academically while having overcome significant obstacles in their lives.

The semifinalists — 30 boys and 31 girls — are completing the second portion of the application, due this month. They must answer several essay questions and provide family financial information, high school transcripts, SAT and ACT scores, and letters of recommendation.

All of this information will be reviewed in early January, and 10 finalists will be selected. Those finalists will be interviewed later in the month by a panel of Times employees. The winners will be announced in February.

In the past 12 years, 32 Barnes Scholars have graduated from college — a 100 percent success rate. Sixteen students are currently enrolled in institutions such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Cornell, Duke, Emory University, Northwestern University, Eckerd College, Bowdoin College, Scripps College, the University of Florida and Florida State University.

The St. Petersburg Times Fund is the nonprofit philanthropic arm of Times Publishing Co. The Fund has provided scholarships for college students since 1953. The name of the nonprofit will change to the Tampa Bay Times Fund in 2012 to reflect the change in the newspaper's name to the Tampa Bay Times.

For more information about the Barnes Scholarship program or the Tampa Bay Times/St. Petersburg Times Fund, contact Nancy Waclawek, director, at (727) 893-8780 or Waclawek@tampabay.com. The Fund's website is tampabay.com/fund. Information about the Barnes Scholarships can be found online at tampabay.com/scholarships.